1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article such as a scrub brush having a major axis and a minor axis with a concave recess along one of these axes.
2. The Prior Art
The Kaufman U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,446 relates to a brush with a back having bristles on one face and being bendable to swing the bristles into oppositely extending relation for brushing engagement with an internal or concave surface. There is also a rubbing sponge secured to the other face of the back of the brush.
The Kaufman U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,013 relates to a package, such as a swab package, embodying a foam applicator pad and a pair of members comprising a backing member of a relatively rigid, flat sheet material adjacent the applicator pad, and a formed material for containing the flowable product in a reservoir formed in said material and captured between said two members. The flat sheet material is provided with a slit or weakened portion in the surface of said material, and the slit or weakened portion is transversely disposed so that upon rupturing it by forcing the opposite ends of the applicator package toward each other about the slit or weakened portion, thereby enabling the contents of the reservoir to be released into the foam pad upon pressure deforming the formed material.
The difficulty with the brush and swab constructions described in these prior art devices is that eventually they may tend to lack the resiliency necessary for repeated use, or for use more than one time. Due to the arrangement of the features of these prior art devices, once the brush or swab is bent or folded upon itself, an inelastic, and possibly an irreversible, deformation may occur which prevents any reusability for the cleaning device.
In the cleaning device shown in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,446 or the device shown in FIG. 18 or FIG. 19 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,013, there is the added difficulty that there must be a weakened area or zone in the walls of the device to permit the bending or folding of the device. Once this weakened area is folded, permanent deformation is likely to occur.
In addition, once the user begins to bend the device, the side walls, or the end walls, depending upon the direction of bending, start to cause this deformation to force portions of the weakened zone to interact with one another. As the bending movement increases, these interacting portions then interfere with each other in this weakened zone, so as to either prevent further folding, or to necessitate the application of a significantly greater force than that which would be required if the portions of the weakened zone did not jam into each other.